Expanding Mind

A conversation with Burt Shonberg biographer Spencer Kansa about LA bohemia, psychedelic art, Marjorie Cameron, gumshoe biography, and his new book Out There: The Transcendent Life and Art of Burt Schonberg. http://burtshonberg.com/  

A conversation with Sylvia Thyssen, senior editor at the Erowid Center, about experience reports, drug geekery, Shulgin's notebooks, and Erowid's current Pineapple fund-matching drive.   

A conversation with futurist, inventor, and educator Mark Pesce about Faustian bargains, Facebook mind control, surveillance capitalism, and his bracing recent article “The Last Days of Reality.”  https://www.markpesce.com/  

A conversation with historian of religion April DeConick about altered states, religious conspiracy theory, and her new book The Gnostic New Age.   

A chat with occult writer and drug geek Julian Vayne about Baphomet, the (sur)reality of spirits, evolution, ritualizing entheogens, and his new book Getting Higher: The Manual of Psychedelic Ceremony. https://theblogofbaphomet.com/  

A lively discussion with "meditation MacGyver" Jeff Warren about polyspirituality, Buddhist hedonism, the X-factor of awareness, and how he contributed to Dan Harris's new book Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics (Spiegel & Grau). http://jeffwarren.org/  

A fascinating conversation with computer scientist and freak-geek extraordinaire Dr. Bruce Damer about innovation pools, realm-bending, Terence McKenna, and a powerful new scientific vision about the origins of life.  

Psychologist and consciousness researcher Susan Blackmore talks about astral cords, brain regions, Zen koans, and her recent book Seeing Myself: The New Science of Out-of-Body Experiences (Robinson). https://www.susanblackmore.co.uk/  

A wide-ranging conversation with historian of religion Dustin Atlas about certainty, skepticism, antisemitism, gnosis, and the politics of knowledge. Read Dustin’s blog thoughts on this and other matters at https://blogblawgblog.wordpress.com/.  

Guitarist and artist David Arnson talks about his long-running psychedelic surf band Insect Surfers, along with comments on rare dolphins, reverb units, pictures in your mind, and his eye-boggling new coloring book Insect Surfers & Alien Allies. http://www.insectsurfers.com/  

Religious scholar Sarah M. Pike talks about wilderness conversion, Hare Krishna hardcore, feral wonder, and her illuminating new book For the Wild: Ritual and Commitment in Radical Eco-Activism (University of California).  

Legendary electronic musician Pauline Anna Strom talks about space music, intuition and imagination, being blind, and her new compilation Trans-Millennia Music (Rvng Intl.) 

Writer, photographer, and curator Joanna Ebenstein talks about Goth obsessions, memento mori, Santa Muerta, and her extraordinary new illustrated collection Death: A Graveside Companion (Thames & Hudson).   

Electronic musician and podcaster Marc Kate talks about nihilism, horror movies, New Age music, and transmuting Nazi black metal into the ambient soundscapes of his latest album, Deface. www.marckate.com

Poet and wilderness writer Andrew Schelling talks about his new biography Tracks Along the Left Coast (Counterpoint), which tells the story of Jaime De Angulo (1887-1950): Big Sur bohemian, California Indian anthropologist, and great Coyote poet.